Run for Your Life!

Administrivial Chance to Win Valuable Prizes and Have Lots of Fun Alert! There is still time to sign up for the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, running March 16-18 at the Brooklyn Bridge Marriott in New York City. If you don’t like to compete with the big guns, register here anyway to do the puzzles, party hearty and meet Will Shortz and your favorite constructors. I’ll be there, and hope you’ll say hello if you make it. If you can’t make it to the A.C.P.T. in person, you can also sign up to receive the puzzles at home.

Administrivial A.C.P.T. Cru Dinner Alert! Going to the A.C.P.T. and don’t know anyone well yet? Here’s your chance to have dinner with a welcoming group of fellow puzzlers! Check out the details here and sign up for the Cru Dinner at the Marriott by dropping an e-mail to alpernm@aol.com.

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MONDAY’S PUZZLE — Vowel run. I wonder if we’ve been through all of the consonants in the alphabet yet that can make a theme set. No matter; the last entry is one of my favorite rock bands ever, so I left the puzzle happy.

And how could you not like a grid that opens with PIPPI Longstocking? I read the entire series when I was a child, and PIPPI was one of my heroes. She knew how to stand up for herself, was independent, and had both a horse and a monkey. I wanted to be her so badly.

Did you have to think twice with 36 Down and 52 Down? Those twin clues are both a TITLE and a FILM. And although I’m not great at seeing them right away, I thought it was cool that Bill Thompson was able to see that “Slot machines” and “cash lost in ’em” are ANAGRAMS.

Not a bad way to start the solving week, although there are a couple of things that rattled me. My first reaction to 33 Across was “Huh?” I’ve never used the word ENHALO in a sentence, but it’s a legit word. Also, hands up if you would like to see an end to (or at least a lot fewer) entries that end in -ER for no good reason. Yes, I’m looking at you, EVILER.

Never mind. Let’s go out with one of JETHRO TULL’s classic songs, which opens with the six notes every guitar player wants to learn when they first pick up an “ax”:

Your thoughts?

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About

Welcome to our conversation about word games. Here you'll find a new blog post for each day's crossword plus a bonus post for the Variety puzzle. Along with discussion about the day's challenge, you'll get backstage insights about puzzlemaking and occasional notes from The Times's puzzlemaster, Will Shortz.

Deb Amlen is a humorist and puzzle constructor whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Onion and Bust Magazine. Her books, “It's Not P.M.S., It's You” and “Create Your Life Lists” are available where all fine literature is sold.

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About Numberplay, the Puzzle Suite For Math Lovers of All Ages

Numberplay is a puzzle suite that will be presented in Wordplay every Monday. The puzzles, which are inspired by many sources and are reported by Gary Antonick, are generally mathematical or logical problems, with occasional forays into physics and other branches of science. While written for adults, many of the concepts here are suitable for and can be enjoyed by math students of all ages.

Gary Antonick, who has created or edited over 100 logic and math puzzles for The New York Times, secretly believes every math problem can be solved using circles and straight lines. He is a visiting scholar at Stanford University, where he studies mathematical problem solving.

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